Croatoan
by ryuu-raylasucura
Summary: When Alfie Owens traveled to the Titanic, he never knew that Croatoan would be a problem there.


"And remember to make sure any silver rats do not enter your room." Craig Owens, a slightly overweight 51-year old, finally finished his lecture about the dangers of travelling with an old "friend", the Doctor. His son, Alfie, sighed, having traveled with him before. "We're just taking one trip, Dad. I'll be back soon in the TARDIS." Although he met the Doctor when he was a baby, Alfie Owens, aged 21, nicknamed Stormageddon, was proud to be meeting his father's friend again, who even knew how Craig and Sofie, his mum, met. While the Doctor was away, Alfie had matured into a young man with curly hair and a simple outlook on life, not doubting the existence of aliens but not fully accepting that he would ever see one, until the Doctor finally took him on a trip without his father's permission to go to the Titanic. Remembering all the running they had to do and the consequences, he forced sown a shudder. "Stormageddon! Where do you wanna go? Switzerland in 2058? New New New New Earth? Visit the starwhale?" The Doctor sure had ideas as to where to explore. "I know! Let's travel to Southampton in 1812!" "Why 1812? Are there Ood there, Doctor?" Craig asked, looking worried. The Doctor laughed, shaking his head. "Nah, I just chose a time period in which little Alfie here could learn about the American embargo there." The Doctor spun, looking for his TARDIS. When he entered the TARDIS, Alfie was glad to see it had been repaired, and started checking all the new gadgets placed haphazardly around the space. The Doctor seemed pleased at his eager ness, and pulled some buttons and pulled a lever, yelling, "Off we go, Stormageddon! Much better than homicidal silver rats!" After a series of crashes that left his head spinning, Alfie opened the TARDIS door to an unexpected view: a crowd of people walking around, on what felt like a ship, if the rocking under his feet was actually there. The Doctor ran up behind him, not looking all that satisfied. "Alfie, I'm so sorry. We are still here, but its 1912 instead." The young man in question was not upset at all. "It's okay, Doctor. I'm sure a hundred years later this place is the same." Alfie grinned still giddy at seeing the Doctor and himself actually back in time. "-octor! Doctor!" The pair turned their heads, seeing a man with a uniform on. "Alonso! Hello again, and allons-y!" The Doctor grinned, and explained to a bewildered Alfie, "This is Midshipman Alonso Frame, and this, Alonso, is Alfie, who I met after saving him from Cybermen. " "Hello, Doctor. " Alonso looked as confused as Alfie felt. Was there something supposed to be happening? He looked around, as the crowd had finally cleared. Surprisingly, the side of the ship read, 'TITANIC.' "Uh, Doctor? Is that ship the Titanic?" Alfie was suddenly worried, remembering the tens of thousands of people that died the last time he saw that ship. "It's okay, Alfie. This is a different timestream, remember?" Alonso looked confused, as Alfie suddenly grasped the meaning of his words. "You mean... It's not going to happen here? We can stop it?" The Doctor was already running towards the central control unit, yelling back at Alfie, "Come on! You don't want to see what happens if we don't get there soon!" Setting his lips into a grim line, Alfie ran after him determinedly. ಠ_ಠ When they arrived at the control room, they saw another person there not in a uniform. As soon as they entered, though, the stranger turned around. "Hello, Doctor." Alfie was surprised at the animosity that the new person spat at the Doctor. He was tall, blonde, and was wearing a surprisingly dirty t-shirt. While he was assessing the stranger, he Doctor opened his mouth. "Time Agents are here?" He asked, sounding bewildered at the revelation. "Why?" The blond sneered. "I hated the movie, so I came back here to unsink the Titanic." At those words, Alfie started to panic. ಠ_ಠ The crowd cheered as Mr. Freely steered the ship away from the iceberg that threatened to sink them. When they successfully steered past the sinister-looking chunk of ice, Alfie breathed out a sigh of relief. "We won't have to do that again, right Doctor?" he asked, almost terrified of the answer. "Well, we can't, unless we cross our own time streams and start a paradox that would rip open time and space all the way to Gallifrey and..." Alfie let the Doctor's voice drone on, relishing the thought of not having to run any more. When he had first joined the Doctor, he never expected this amount of running involved. "Doctor, let's go back. I'm worried that my Dad will notice I'm gone." The Doctor stopped mid ramble, and agreed to take him home, with a short stop in 2130 for a burger made of ingredients Alfie couldn't pronounce. After the TARDIS landed, Alfie stepped out the door, fully expecting to find the Doctor's stories of white buildings and purple street lamps. What he saw, though, was a completely different reality. There were few people walking around, and those that did had ragged, torn clothes and looked as if they hadn't had a washed in over a week. "Doctor? What are they doing? Why isn't there anyone here?" Alfie was getting worried and starting to feel scared. The Doctor patted his back reassuringly. "It's okay, Alfie. This is a parallel universe, from when we saved the Titanic. What you see here is the remains of the human populations, after it was wiped out a few months ago with the Croatoan disease." The Doctor didn't look calm, and Alfie was starting to get confused. "What's Croatoan?" The Doctor grimaced, and stated, "Croatoan is a deadly disease that causes people to want to kill others violently. Usually, almost everyone ends up dying quickly. " Alfie was definitely scared now. Who knew if he had this disease already? "Let's go back, Doctor. Please." The Doctor nodded, and they headed back towards the bright police box. Trying to open the door, the police box wouldn't budge. "Doctor, the door won't open." ಠ_ಠ Balthazar grinned, and started turning the ship sideways. Panicking, Alfie grabbed on the taller man's shirt, and pulled him aside. "Don't save the ship!" he hissed. "Do you know what Croatoan is?" The blonde paled at an alarming rate. "How did you know that? My brother created it, do you know him? Do you work for him?" Alfie frowned. Someone had created the disease? A jerk on his jacket brought him back into reality. The Doctor was behind him, with Alonso determinedly steering the Titanic back on its original course, towards the iceberg. Balthazar rushed towards Alonso, determined to prevent the deadly crash that everyone there but him wanted. "Why do you want the Titanic not to crash?" asked Alonso, and the Doctor murmured in agreement. Alfie thought that anyone who knew of the Croatoan effects should want to permanently make sure it didn't exist. "Well.." Balthazar looked reluctant to share his story. "Please, Balthazar. Many people's lives depend on this." The Doctor tried to persuade him to reveal the reasons as to what Alfie imagined to be even worse than a ship sinking. "Okay, so you know the movie, right? Well, it sucked. That wasn't the only thing that would suck if the Titanic sank. "From my future, my friend's mother, Ellen, died. She was killed by a person who would not be there if the Titanic never sank, and so I thought I should repay my friend by letting his mother live. "Although I know Croatoan will be released when I save the Titanic, I thought that somehow, we could avoid it, go into hiding." Balthazar looker weary, as if he already survived Croatoan. ಠ_ಠ "Alfie! We can go hide in this cabin, I think, as long as there are no Croats here. "The Doctor seemed hopeful that they would outlast the infected people, although Alfie still had no idea what Croatoan would do. "Doctor, will we be infected?" Alfie was worried that he wouldn't return to his mum and dad, and that they would never get to see him again. The Doctor shook his head. "I don't think so. I can't because I'm a Time Lord, but you might. Just don't go around touching anyone's blood." "Why would I touch blood?" Alfie asked, slightly miffed that the Doctor thought he would willingly touch someone's blood. "I think that I'll be fine, thanks." Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing two people with blood all over their hands. Seeing them, Alfie sprung up, yelling at the Doctor to do something. The woman lunged for the Doctor, while the man reached towards Alfie. Remembering to make sure he didn't touch any blood, Alfie desperately tried to black off the man's attacks with an iron pole. When it was knocked out of his hands, however, he started to really panic. When the man lunged again, he was knocked on his back, vulnerable to the Croats. The man's face came closer and closer, twisted in a disturbing parody of a smile. "We're going to make you kill this man here, and you will be one of us." His voice was raspy, as if he hadn't had to use it for a few days. Alfie was terrified. He didn't want to kill the Doctor, his dad's hero. Although he hoped that the Doctor got out okay, he decided to take his chances, and push up at the Croat with all his strength, trying to overpower him. When it actually succeeded, Alfie felt elated, adrenaline pumping through his veins. ಠ_ಠ Alfie remembered that day they fought the Croats as well as if it were just yesterday. Although he had been successful in pushing off the infected man, he would still be plagued with relentless nightmares, ones of him not being able to get away from the man, of having to kill the Doctor. Pushing away his thoughts, he looked back at Alonso and Balthazar, who had finally relented and let the sailor steer the boat to the impending iceberg and towards certain doom for the people onboard. "Come along, Stormageddon and Alonso. We should head back towards the TARDIS and make sure Balthy here can revisit his friend." The Doctor seemed entirely too energetic for being on the Titanic, Alfie decided, seeing as he was jumping around and rushing back to the TARDIS. ಠ_ಠ Running back to the TARDIS with two Croats on their tails was terrifying, Alfie realized. He never knew if he would trip and fall or just get too tired to continue running. When the light of the police box appeared, though, Alfie was struck by something. What if the door still wouldn't open? Rushing against the wooden frame, he tried to open it with brute force. Seeing as he had a slight build, that did not do much in the way of trying to open the door. The Doctor started giggling, looking for all the world as if he was just jogging on a sidewalk. "There is a lock, Alfie." Oh. "If there is a lock, then there must be a key!" Alfie realized, as the Doctor opened the TARDIS. ಠ_ಠ Craig seemed relieved that they arrived back to their home in one piece, some bruises, but no broken bones or dead people. Considering the things that could have happened, Alfie was glad that his father wasn't there. "Now, Craig, Stormageddon here should go watch the Titanic movie. You have that?" the Doctor seemed intent on making sure Alfie was fully immersed in the movie, until he noticed something weird. The Doctor was in the movie! It seemed such a weird place for the Doctor to be, until the scene turned to a conversation between two characters. The Doctor could be seen in the corner, writing a large 'HELLO, ALFIE' and waving. Altogether, Alfie thought it was a wonderful way to end the day. "If there is a lock, then there must be a key." The French Mistake, Supernatural 


End file.
